Holy Toledo Sports Edition
Behind the scenes stories from the Toledo Mud Hens, Toledo Walleye, and Hensville that spotlight the people, partnerships, and impact shaping the Glass City.
Holy Toledo Sports Edition
#012 Matt Melzak - Toledo Mud Hens & Walleye
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The voice of the Toledo Walleye & Mud Hens joins host, Brad Rieger, to discuss his journey in sports broadcasting and some favorite memories throughout his years.
Well, hello everyone and welcome. Today we have a great guest, and it is Matt Melzak. And Matt is the lead play-by-play announcer for the Mud Hens and the Walleye. And during this conversation, he gave us gives us a great glimpse behind the scenes of what it takes to paint a picture for viewers and listeners. Enjoy. Thank you for uh joining us here at Holy Toledo Sports Edition and just giving us an opportunity to get to know your kind of your professional path, your association here with the Mudhens and the Walleye, and just who you are as a person. And also thank you for just letting me kind of turn the tables on you because obviously you usually do you ask the questions, but you're going to allow me to do this. So I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, my pleasure. Uh Brad, looking forward to it. It's going to be a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_03So uh Matt, because of your uh lead role, lead broadcasting role with the Mud Hens and the Walleye, you've become a prominent voice for Toledo sports. And you're a hometown guy, that has to mean something really that's to be really cool for you.
SPEAKER_00It it it is. The fact that you grew up here, you know, I I'm going to games, uh, whether it was at the old sports arena or, you know, at Ned Skelton Stadium when I was a kid. And then, you know, I'm going with my dad to games here in town. And now I'm sitting there and broadcasting in two of the best facilities we have in minor league sports across the country. Is I mean, sometimes you got to think about it a little bit that I can't believe I'm doing it, to be honest with you, because sometimes, you know, I I when I you think back to those days as a kid, there's no way I thought, oh, you know, I'll be the guy doing those things at that point. But yeah, it is it's really awesome and and something that I look forward to and cherish every day.
SPEAKER_03You mentioned the facilities 5th, 3rd field, and Huntington Center. From uh just your pure fan enthusiast, sports enthusiast, what what do you really appreciate about those two venues?
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, for me, I the first thing I appreciate is I have a good vantage point. Tremendous vantage point in both in both of uh whether it's at the Huntington Center or at Fitherfield, I can see everything. And that's uh that's the biggest thing. When you go on the road, some of these places, you get some unique vantage points. And you know, it makes the game or the broadcast of the game can be a little bit more difficult. Whereas here, I mean, it's just it's very easy because of the fact you just see everything. You don't miss anything, and that's that's the the first thing I look at, and then it's the aesthetics of the of the places that you go to. And you you look at the Huntington Center and how amazing it is when you walk through it and you see the fan support and just the uniqueness of the building. It's one of the rare ones that doesn't have a drop-down scoreboard at center. I know it has a big video board in the end, which is great, but you know, if the fans are kind of on top of the ice, it gets very loud for not being as big a building as some of these others that are in the ECHL. And then you look at fifth, third field and and uh just the way it continues to transform. They do such a great job here of continuing to make it look great and and make it look fresh so you wouldn't even realize that it's been over 20 years that it has been downtown Toledo. So uh, you know, I I think when you look at it as a fan, you can appreciate the greatness of both venues. And then obviously as a broadcaster, I look at the one thing is that I want to be able to see everything and all avenues, and you can do that at both.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Matt, can you think of a game or a moment at both both sites where uh the atmosphere was off the chart electric with the crowd?
SPEAKER_00You know, I think back to when we won for the walleye, when we won, it was game five of the Kelly Cup finals against Newfoundland, and we got to the end of that game five. And, you know, I think the last minute of play, I I think people even have told me this before. You could hardly hear me on the broadcast. I'm loud. I'm loud on the broadcast, I'm loud in person, but you could hardly hear me on the broadcast. I could hardly hear myself, let alone Kyle Rogers, who was a step away from me, uh, you know, because it was so loud in the building. That first time being in the Kelly Cup Finals, that uh winning to keep the series alive. Ultimately, we ended up losing the next game, but up in Newfoundland. But it was just that moment that was so special to hear that crowd and uh, you know, it makes you wonder what it'll be like when a championship is actually raised uh there at the Huntington Center. And then I can think back to I've only had a chance to do a couple of playoff games for baseball in my time. And uh Jim and Jim Weber and myself were in the booth doing the game, game one against Durham in the playoffs 2019, and you you get this, you know. I mean, it was just such a cool moment because Toledo beats Durham. I just had a hard time beating Durham in the playoffs, but yet beats Durham, takes the one-nothing series lead, and you're I mean, and it was just it was loud, it was electric, and it was just something that I haven't been a part of in baseball yet. And that was just really cool to be a part of.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Now you've had great longevity with uh the walleye and the hens, and because of that, you've experienced the the culture. What is it about the hens and the walleye and how they do things that um leads to the to the success of the organizations and just uh they're very highly respected throughout the professional sports industry.
SPEAKER_00I I think it starts from the top down with the organizations that they do such a great job of looking at what a fan wants to have at a game and wants to be a part of at a game. So then the experience becomes so good at both venues that that's I think the reason why that you keep getting the people coming back. You see it so many times with other cities where they get a new team, they get a new building, things are great for a while, and then it kind of fades because they're not able to keep that momentum. Where uh you look at you know what the Toledo Walleye have done since they started in 09 and that build-up that you know you didn't really have where you were selling out every game until we're at a decade plus in, and then all of a sudden it's your you're starting to pack the place all the time. What what changed? Well, it it's the it's the great fan experience that they this organization sets up for both uh baseball and hockey. That's why baseball continues to draw great in the summertime and hockey continues to basically sell out every game at this point. I mean, it it most people can't even remember the last time there wasn't a sellout for hockey. So I I think it starts there, and it's just the atmosphere that you get at both venues, whether, you know, uh whether it's from the promotional department and the great things that they do to just uh the in-game features, to uh, you know, that when you start looking at the cost of tickets, you start mapping everything, it's just well done and hits the sweet spot for this community, which is a great sports area in Toledo and Northwest Ohio.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh Matt, you're from uh Toledo, and uh when you were a kid uh growing up, uh, what sports did you gravitate to?
SPEAKER_00Uh I was actually a golfer uh first and foremost. My my mom was really good uh when when she was younger. She, I mean, we still have a box of trophies for her from the Northwest Ohio. She won a lot of uh titles when she was playing golf coming up as a young uh as a young woman. So she was really good. My dad didn't even play golf until he met my mom. And then he got into it. He probably even more than she was when we were kids, uh, myself and my brother and my two sisters. But I was I was a golfer first, uh, you know, baseball, uh it's kind of funny that I do hockey a lot because I'm not a very good hockey player. And I'll admit it, I I I'm not great at skating. I can I can do it, but not at that level, and just never really got to a point where I could play it at a high level. Uh, but you know, I played football, I played basketball, and I played uh played golf as well. But golf was probably the best sport I was into when I was a kid.
SPEAKER_03Did you compete in high school? St. Francis, right?
SPEAKER_00I did go to St. Francis uh multiple times. I tried out every year to make it to the golf team, just was a couple uh a couple shots short most times, but you know, and uh did play a little baseball, but not much there. Did wrestle when I was there at uh St. Francis. Uh so I I dabbled in some sports. I've just always been a sports guy. It just I just learned early that I was probably better talking about it than actually playing it.
SPEAKER_03What's your go-to golf course in the Toledo area?
SPEAKER_00Um I will play, I like playing Ottawa Park uh sometimes because of the history of it, and it's just a great course. It doesn't, it's not overwhelming if you don't hit it long. You can play it. Uh, you know, I like playing there. I like going up to Legacy if I'm gonna go up to Michigan. Uh so I I'll get around to some of the courses in the year. I try to. If if I can get out a little bit more with a couple of younger kids now, I don't get out nearly as much as I used to, but uh I still love playing it.
SPEAKER_03Uh as a kid, back to you when you were a kid, uh what teams did you cheer for and who were your sports heroes? So it was interesting.
SPEAKER_00Uh when I when I grew up, I was a Tigers fan. Uh I love I love the Tigers. And then I also like the Reds because you know I wanted to see you know a team from each league. And they had just gone, it was just before interleague play, so you still had where they didn't play each other. So you could root for one on each side. So my dream world series is still the Tigers Reds if it ever happens. Because then I know I'm I I'm gonna win. Right. Uh no matter what. But uh yeah, the Tigers and uh and the Reds were were my two teams there. I've always been a Lions fan, so yay. Uh yay on that. They're better. Well, yeah, they're they're sort of better. But uh, you know, I actually grew up a big Chris Bielman fan, uh the old linebacker, played at Ohio State, and then went on to play for the Lions. And I think it was the one year, and I'm trying to remember the year off the top of my head, but he played the whole year with a torn bicep, and he had 200 and some tackles, and you wouldn't even know the guy was hurt. And then right after the season he had surgery. Yeah, exactly. You got a torn bicep and you're going and tackling people. Uh, just a very interesting guy, and and somebody I kind of rooted for and gravitated to just because I think he never he didn't miss a game until he had some neck problems with the spinal cord where he had to had to start missing games and and actually ultimately had to retire. But uh he's just been one of my favorite players of all time. And then on the hockey side, I grew up as a Steve Weiserman fan. Yeah, it's probably a lot of people around here did uh for the Red Wings, because I mean, just an unbelievable player.
SPEAKER_03Right. Um when you were watching games, did you pay attention to the broadcasters when you were young?
SPEAKER_00You know, I I've always loved it.
SPEAKER_03So at what age did you start saying that's pretty cool?
SPEAKER_00You know, I probably when I was in my early teens, I I started to where I wanted to not just watch a game, but listen to it too, and and just to hear the broadcasts and the broadcasters and what they added to the game. It's it I I just really enjoyed it growing up, and I I don't I can't really pinpoint one game where all of a sudden I was like, oh, I gotta start listening. It just I started to pick it up as I went along, and and then all of a sudden it was watching games with my dad, and we would listen to the broadcast and we'd always have it on. And I was like, you know, this these guys are great.
SPEAKER_03This is awesome to listen to. Who made an impression on you?
SPEAKER_00Uh, you know, I start with obviously being a Tigers fan, I listened to Ernie Harwell on the radio side. And I would go to bed, my parents would tell me to go to bed, I'd throw my headphones in and I'd listen to the end of a game uh for baseball or Bruce Martin for hockey and into Ken Cal, uh, you know, who's still doing the games uh for the Red Wings now. So uh those guys I got to listen to a lot. And for some reason I just didn't really enjoyed it. I could listen to a game without having to watch it, and it's those guys made it that way. So you could listen, and you know, and that that's part of where I'm at now where I want to make sure that when people listen, that they're seeing the game without having to use the screen to see it. Right.
SPEAKER_03Um, so what's when was your first gig then, TV and radio?
SPEAKER_00Uh uh my first gig uh well professionally would have been the O3 Toledo Storm. Yeah. Uh but there's some lead up to that. Yeah, I did, I did do, I did, well, when I got to college. Yep, I did some high school hockey. Uh I did, you know, when I was at the University of Toledo, I would do every game I could. So it was football, women's basketball. It didn't matter. If I could do a game, I was doing a game. We did some baseball there, uh, you know, mainly because I pushed, I wanted to do some baseball games. They were like, oh, okay, if you want to do them, just you know, take the equipment and go do them. So uh, you know, we ended up doing that uh to get into uh broadcasting, just to do as much as I could. And that's where I felt like I I needed to do as much as I could. And then I got a part-time gig at 94-5, was doing overnights, and then I would go to class and you know, uh, so how were the overnights? Uh they were they were wonderful. You get some really interesting phone calls if you work overnight on radio. Yeah. Uh but I would, yeah, I would literally work until you know 5 a.m. or whatever, and the morning crew would come in and then I would leave. Either I'd go home or I would just go get some breakfast and then uh go do class. I'd schedule some classes in the morning so I could get those out of the way. And uh, you know, whatever I could do to get uh behind a mic, I would do it.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_03So then uh 2003, uh you get your foot in the door or you get hired for the storm. How did that opportunity come to you?
SPEAKER_00It started because I was doing when I was doing talk radio uh back uh at the old 1470 at that time, and uh guy by the name of Mike Miller, uh, you know, uh great broadcaster in his own right, called a couple of Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils, was doing a local hockey show. And he kind of needed someone to help out once in a while. And I suggest I offered to help and would fill in for him when he had when the Devils had a game. And so I was doing some of those, and then he ended up coming back to Toledo, wanted to take over the GM job for the storm. He did. That job came open. Uh, you know, I kind of talked him into letting me have a shot at it, and we had we had some great uh times working through my broadcast, especially early, uh, because he would we would sit down every Monday morning and you know, take a period of the previous weekend and we would break down that entire period.
SPEAKER_03And he'd give some feedback.
SPEAKER_00Feedback, and it would be, why in the world did you say that? Uh, what were you thinking here? Uh, remember some things, just some staples that you've got to develop. And, you know, and as the course of that first season went, those those meetings got shorter and shorter because you know, I was taking what we were talking about and what he would hear, and I would say, Oh, I didn't even realize that I said that, or boy, I could really say that in a different way. And then you start, you know, self-correcting a lot of things and uh getting to where you know our meetings got a lot shorter, or they were more positive because he would be like, Oh, that's really good, you know. Hey, way to work that in. Uh, you know, so it was always that development, and and I owe him certainly a lot for my career to get me going, get me into uh broadcasting sports at a high level.
SPEAKER_03And you did four years with the storm. What was it like covering the storm and uh calling a game at the sports arena?
SPEAKER_00You know, the sports arena, uh, we talked about the Huntington Center and Fitherfield and how you know my vantage points are great. If you couldn't call a game at the sports arena, yeah, like you probably needed to go into a different You're hanging over the ice. You're hanging, yeah, you're looking straight down at everything. You don't you don't miss anything. And you know, so it was it was helpful. It was easy to get into it because of the fact that some of the hardest part of becoming a hockey broadcaster is just being able to quickly rattle off names and numbers and who has the puck and being able to pick that up and and and making those changes because changes happen fast. Guys will jump out on the ice 30 seconds, 40 seconds, maybe a minute sometimes, and you'll have even if you have your line chart, you know, there's other times where one guy's changed, but the other two are still out there, and now you know, you have to be able to know everyone's names and numbers, you have to be able to see them quickly, and it really allows you to get focused in in that in that old building.
SPEAKER_03And you um hockey took about a year hiatus, and then in 2009, while I emerged at the Huntington Center, you're hired. And then pretty soon after, though, you emerge on the mudhead and scene. How did the transition of the crossover to baseball go for you?
SPEAKER_00You know what? It was uh it was actually very difficult at first. Be and it because of the fact that I, you know, hockey or go, go, go, go, go. It's different pace for fast pace, fast paced. And then, you know, when I get hired, it was part of part of the gig was for me to come in and fill in for Jason Griffin a few games during the year. So, you know, I might go a month without doing a baseball game, and then boom, you're right in doing a baseball game. And, you know, so trying to pick all of that up, and and thankfully for me at the time, BCSN was really getting going on the TV side. So I would do some games here and there for them on baseball. So it would it would help me get the you know the pacing down a little bit because baseball, there is that, you know, you can't go 100 miles an hour in baseball, it just doesn't work. It you there's there's there's a rhythm to baseball that's a different rhythm to hockey. And uh, so it's it's getting used to that rhythm and trying to do that on a you know, after going a month without doing a baseball game can be very difficult. But uh, you know, it was quite a learning experience those first couple of years. And and then thankfully for me in 2012 when I started doing all the games at home with Weber, uh, you know, getting to learn from Jim and listening to him night in, night out was was a big help.
SPEAKER_03What did you learn from Jim? Obviously, the iconic broadcaster 49 years in the booth for the hens. What did you learn uh about broadcasting, maybe even about a little bit about life from Jim?
SPEAKER_00Well, I'll tell you one thing I learned about broadcasting. He was so good at just focusing on that one game that that day. So if it if it was August 26th, and the Hens were 30 games under 500, his broadcast was the same as if they were 30 games over 500. Because he he was so good at just saying this is the game, because in his mind you never know what was gonna happen. And you know, whether it was gonna be a no-hitter, uh, you know, the one year we had a triple play in the season, you know, you don't know if that's gonna happen or not. Right. Just because you know, the hens are great or they're bad, you don't know what the day is gonna be like or what the game is gonna be like. And uh that was one of the things I was so into hey, wins and losses, wins and losses, you build this team's great, we go, we go. That you know, when I started doing baseball with him, and the way he looked at it was this game matters the most. And you know, you might have someone that's tuning in for the first time to listen to you. So you better call the game as if that's a great game or not, no matter what it is, no matter what the records are. And you know, it it actually helped me a lot on hockey too, because you know, I mean, my pacing would drop as the team was terrible, you know. I mean, you're just it's it's human nature, right? I mean, you know, if the if the season's bad, it's hard to get up for every game, but he would do it no matter what. And he had, and when I asked him about it, he would say, Hey, I went through a lot of years where I didn't have any playoff teams. But it's true. A lot of the 90s, there were it was very rare to see the playoffs for the Mud Hens. And uh, you know, so he had to get used to a lot of years where the team was out of it by July or August. And you know, but in his mind, every game mattered because you never know what you're gonna see. So if you don't put in that same effort every game, you know, you could get caught where something happens and you're not ready for it. So uh I learned that from him uh that I thought was great. And then, you know, just the way he handled himself as a broadcast, like every day, baseball broadcasting is very difficult. It's taxing on you, and people don't realize how hard that it actually is. Uh I think people don't realize how hard it is for baseball players to play the game every day, practice them play, which is what they do pretty much every day. Uh, you know, and they're people wonder, well, why is he getting hurt? Well, yeah, because you're doing it 160 times at the major league level. We're doing it 150 at the AAA. It's the same for broadcasters. You can't every day, it can wear you down by the end of a season because it's just non-stop. You're constantly prepping, you're constantly talking. You might have a three-hour game one day, could be three and a half, could be four hours if you get extra inning. You just don't know. You're by yourself half the games. It's a lot. And uh, you know, so he the way he handled himself to be prepared all the time was away from uh, you know, doing the broadcast. And, you know, he was such a good family guy, and you know, it was all about his kids and his grandkids. And uh, you know, so you know, now as a father, I do the same where I I try to, you know, make sure I'm setting all my time so that I'm spending as much time with the kids as I can away from when I'm doing the games.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03So uh Jim Weber obviously was a big influence. You mentioned Mike Miller. Who's the person that was um first to believe in your ability to? To be a broadcaster.
SPEAKER_00You know, I think it would be Mike uh Miller, first off, was the first guy that said, you know what, Mac could be a good broadcaster. And, you know, I I that's why I said I I owe him a lot because he he kind of, you know, I mean, if I called him today and said, Hey, can you listen to this game for me and and give me some feedback, he would do it in a heartbeat. And he's kind of, or I could call him and say, Hey, I kind of was talking about this one day. What do you think? Do you think I was on the right path here with this? Or uh, you know, is it something that I shouldn't be uh going with? And you know, that it kind of in a mentor relationship there, he and as a friend, he would certainly do that. And uh, you know, I mean, he's just an amazing broadcaster, his own right, that's now retired. Uh, but it it just the the fact that I know I could lean on him if I need to, and he was the first guy that really he gave me that opportunity and said, you know, even the first couple months when I wasn't great, he said, nope, I'm sticking with Matt. He's gonna be he's gonna be fine, he's gonna be good, and you know, and and he was the one who kind of gave that stamp of approval to allow me to keep going and and keep that that dream of continuing to do what I do uh alive.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, let's go into the booth, and I know this question really involves two booths for you. Um, but give us a glimpse of what uh you do to prepare for games, and then what's your game day routine, let's say a night game.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Well, uh, you know, first off, I read a lot. I read a lot of statistics, I look at a lot of numbers, uh, I try to read as much as I can on players, uh, much as you can find out. That's where it all starts. You've gotta you've gotta read a lot, I think. And uh, you know, and whether for me, I like to write down a lot of stuff too. So I do I write a lot of the same things over and over again. You have notebooks, I have notebooks, I have folders, I have a lot of stuff that I keep over the time, and then each and every game sheet, whether that I do, whether it's hockey game sheet that I do or the lineup cards for baseball, I write all over them. And and uh, you know, you have folders on every team? Every every team, everything I can I keep uh I'm very weird about that. And then I I kind of slowly change stuff out, you know. I get rid of some stuff after a while, but sometimes I like to look back and go, okay, did I use this note on this day? You know, and I, you know, I'll cross something off if I use it, or I'll put a check mark by it, knowing that I've used it. And then the next game, you know, especially with these six-game series for baseball, you know, I don't want to keep repeating the same note, but I try to make it fresh each day with a different note about every player. And, you know, you got to kind of have that running total of here's what I've used already. And uh so it's it it it involves a lot of reading and a lot of prep and then a lot of talking to players, you know, whether it's when do you do that? Before games, you know, before games a lot of times, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Just go into the locker room, see who's available.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just uh, you know, it on the hockey side, sometimes I'll come to practice during the week and I'll I'll chat with guys, and you know, sometimes I'll get interviews for the broadcast that I'm gonna do that weekend or the next couple weeks coming up, or I'm just hey, you know, I you know, saw you had a great game. Why? You know, what was going on here? What's been you've been on a roll lately? What has been the difference? And uh, you know, baseball. Sometimes I try to get to know some of the guys personally, just uh, you know, hey, what's the family situation like? I uh, you know, how do you hold up over the course of a year? Because every guy does a little bit of different things for that. And uh it's very interesting to learn some of those things. And then when they do that, then they start telling you a little bit more about you know uh what they've been working on. You know, like if a pitcher is pitching very well over the last couple of weeks, I might say, Hey, did you add a new pitch? Is there, you know, something what is changing right now for you? And a lot of guys are pretty willing to to discuss that kind of thing with you.
SPEAKER_03And I imagine visiting um either after the game or at practice, you're also building relationship with the players.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you you have to because you don't know when you're you're gonna you're gonna want to discuss something with them or interview them, or you know, uh you you want to learn things. And the only way to do that is sometimes to discuss things with players and and to to get to know them a little bit. Sometimes you find out, you know, uh that there's a hockey guy that is a huge baseball guy, and then he starts learning that you do, like in my world, do the baseball bra. Now all of a sudden every day I see him, he's starting to talk to me about something. And you start learning uh a little bit more about them and their personality and what they like and you know what some of their interests are away from the mic, because while maybe you and I can sit here on the mics and talk about what we like, players sometimes don't do that. They they get a little shy when the mic comes out and they don't want to discuss, you know, that the fact that they really like fishing. You know, I don't really fish, I don't know a lot about it, but they might and they might enjoy that and you find out a little bit more about them, which can lead into just that personality where you feel like you can go up and talk to them and say, hey, you're on a hot streak right now, goal scoring wise. What's happened? Why are you playing so well with such and such? And they'll and a lot of guys will be open to talking about that, and then it might lead to a note during the game or not.
SPEAKER_03You never know. Matt, this is a really behind-the-scenes uh question, but you mentioned the view from the press box from the broadcast uh for both from both uh venues. What else about the broadcasting setup would fans be interested in?
SPEAKER_00Um boy, uh they probably would love to know how I set up, I think, for every game where I'm very particular on how I like to have stuff set up. I'm lucky in both venues that I have kind of a glass wall that I can tape some stuff up and take down. So for baseball, I like to have the the player statistics, the whole team, you know, where I'll have the hens here, and then above them, I'll have the visiting team, and then I'll have the visiting team's roster and the hens roster. That's what I tape up at the hen's side because I need to be able to look at it quickly. You know, if a guy's coming out of the bullpen, I want to be able to scan, boom, here's who he is, here's where he's from, and have all of that ready. Here's his numbers. I can do that very easily. Hockey, I kind of I I I end up building a little bit of a wall, which is kind of weird. It's nothing against Dan, who runs the camera on the other side of the glass for me. That's offensive to Dan. I I apologize to Dan, but I always tape up a lot of notes. So I do the team notes, I do the standings, power play numbers, uh, I like to do you know milestones. If we've got anyone coming up with milestones, I try to have it all quickly because of the fact that in baseball, I can, if I need to open my notepad to look something up, you know, if something I haven't written down, okay, comes up in conversation with me and whoever's in the booth, I can look it up pretty fast, right? Whether it's for the computer or it's through the notes that I have in front of me. Hockey, you can't do that as fast. It's going too fast. So if I want to fire in that Brandon Hawkins has 15 points this year against the Fort Wayne Comets, uh, you know, I like to have that up and ready so I can just go quickly, boom. Or if Sam Craig scores in a game, I want to go and go, oh, you know what? That's his seventh goal in nine games against Fort Wayne. I need to have that quickly because you're not going to have a lot of time.
SPEAKER_03And then do you check it off after you say it?
SPEAKER_00Check it off. And off we go.
SPEAKER_03Off we go. Uh you stand or sit during broadcasts.
SPEAKER_00I I stand for hockey a lot, uh, if I can, uh, because I like it keeps me going with the pacing. And I found that if I stand, I can go a lot faster than if I'm sitting. At sitting, I start to get into that more of that baseball mode where you're just more relaxed. And so baseball, I'll sit most of the time, except I just can't sit a full nine-inning game. I'm too active, so I have to get up a little bit and I'll I'll stand and I'll do an inning or two where I'm standing, but most of the time I'm sitting for baseball.
SPEAKER_03On the field and on the ice when you're broadcasting, what are you paying attention to the most?
SPEAKER_00You know, for me on hockey, it's the players on the ice, and I focus in a lot of where the play is. So sometimes I'll miss something that's going on behind the play. If two guys are having a conversation where they might end up dropping the gloves, I might be late to get to it because I'm focused on where the play is going. And I'm always scanning the benches because I want to see if players are changing and if anyone's gone back to the locker room or if somebody's missing off of the bench. I'm always looking those, those are the main spots, and then I'm looking at the clock because time and score matters to people that are listening or watching a game. Maybe not so much watching, but listening for sure. If you're in your car, you're driving around and you're listening to the walleye game, you want to know they're up to nothing, 10 minutes to go in the second. So time and score.
SPEAKER_03And you kind of alluded to this, but how do you look to infuse storytelling into the seems like baseball is probably better suited for the stories that or you have to do the Brandon Hawkins rapid fire ones, right?
SPEAKER_00Well, the way Hawk's going, I could take me 10 to half the period to run down all the accolades that he's picked up so far. But uh hockey is where I continue to work at that because hockey's very difficult to get a story in because of the way the gameplay is. I mean, you just don't have a lot of those downtime moments where you can uh drop in, uh look back on this, or hey, do you remember this game from a couple years ago where Brandon Hawkins had the four goals or whatever? You know, you don't get that opportunity very often in hockey. And it's it's one of the things that I still struggle with to this day is the best way to weave some of those in without losing sight of the game. Uh, you know, baseball, it's obviously a lot easier because there's more time to do that. But uh to me, one thing that I always liked about listening to baseball, and and Jim was a master storyteller, I'm not to that. I'm not that that level uh as Jim to where I could just go off for five innings in a 10-1 game and just talk about stories. Uh, you know, I can go off the rails a little bit, but not that far away. I still like to have the game going. And I think, you know, fans, and I've had a few that have stopped me, have said that, you know, it's my style's obviously a lot different than Jim's, but they enjoy it because I do keep the game still there. But I understand sometimes if a game's bad. If a game's 14 to 1 in the seventh inning, you know, there's whether you're winning or you're losing, if you're winning, obviously there's a lot to discuss. If you're losing, if you got one run on two hits and you're losing 14 to 1, you can go in just a few other stories.
SPEAKER_03I think was a score recently.
SPEAKER_00There was a score recently that was that way, you know, and you're by yourself doing a game, you're just talking to yourself sometimes, and you know, so you you can you can get into a few stories or you can reminisce a little bit, or you know, sometimes I'll start to go into, hey, you know, even though this game is not going great, here's what Toledo's done over the last 10 days. Or, you know, you you know, you I will bring up the fact that you know Jim used to talk about this all the time, and he's right. There's gonna be 20 games where you probably win by a good margin. There's gonna be 20 games where you're gonna lose by a good margin. It's the other games with make or break whether your season's gonna be any good or not. And if you start looking, a lot of good teams still have that. There's nights where you know teams get blown out. It just happens. Even if you're a really good team, you're gonna get blown out. So uh as a broadcaster, you've got to be ready for all of those things.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03For people that are watching or listening to you, Matt, what do you hope that they take away from a game that you're broadcasting?
SPEAKER_00I hope A that they learn something a little bit. Oh, I didn't know that. You know, those kind of notes, you know, where oh, I didn't know that, or that at least if they're uh if they're not solely focused on watching it, that they can see it in their mind. And that's that's my whole goal as a broadcaster is to add something to it than just sitting there with the screen on and the volume muted. I hope that they can take something away from it, or uh in like I said, if you're not watching it, you can at least see it in your mind.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_03Sometimes, Matt, you might have noticed things don't go always as planned. And so is there um um a time where something went sideways where you had to think quickly, act quickly, talk quickly, and adapt and improvise in the booth.
SPEAKER_00You know, there are uh, you know, there are a few times. Technology's been a great thing and it's allowed us to not always be at the games. So, you know, I'll do some games I'll do remotely, some games I'll do in person. I kind of do a hybrid schedule. Uh, but the problem with that is if technology goes out, you know, now you lose out on the game. And uh, you know, every now and again, especially some of the longer trips with younger kids at home, I don't travel nearly as much uh to some of the longer ones just because I don't want to be away for weeks at a time uh from my family. But so I have to rely on some of that technology sometimes to get through a game, and you never know where it'll go out, and you've got to kind of try to piece it together as you go. So that's where you have to have those stories ready. You have to have things ready that can take you through while everything refreshes or resets. We've gotten so much better at technology, it doesn't really happen very often, but you do have to be weary of that. And the other one is you have to be leery of your equipment not connecting or something not working when you're at a venue. And uh, you know, nowadays between Flow Sports, uh, we don't really have that on the baseball side, but with Flow Sports on the hockey side, I can be in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and they might be telling me your audio's not coming through. So now I'm getting text messages, you're getting, you know, phone calls while you're trying to do the game and you're trying to answer this, you're trying to figure out why something's not working, and and some of it's out of your control, as I like to tell them, hey, I'm plugged into this stuff, you got to talk talk to the venue. Uh, but that doesn't stop people from you know letting you know, or if for some reason your audio's not coming through, you got to try to figure out why and call the game at the same time, those can be tricky.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Matt, you're a lead broadcaster now, but obviously you spend time as a color analyst. The um teamwork and chemistry of when you're sharing the booth with someone, what's the key to that?
SPEAKER_00I I think it stems a lot from the play-by-play guy, really. Uh, because I think sometimes if if an analyst has a bad night, I'll look and see what I did. Because, you know, sometimes you talk to analysts so much as a play-by-play guy, you start, you've you've learned a lot of what they're gonna say. And then you can't help it. It's habit where it's just natural that you might say something that they're gonna say, and that's where you have to become mindful as a play-by-play guy to bring your analyst in the proper way, whether it's bringing him in with a question, you know, hey, it's it's three-two here. What are you looking at as a hitter? If I've got Bruce Johnson in the booth, who is a college hitter, I might say to him, hey, what are you looking at as a hitter here? You've seen seven pitches so far from this pitcher. What's the next one? What are you thinking? Where are you, where's your mind going here as a hitter? Or if I've got Ron Reitnower in the booth, what what are you looking at to throw here? You've thrown him everything you got. What are you going back to? Where are you setting him up? What are you trying to do here? Because you don't want to walk him. Maybe it's bases loaded or a certain situation. Get to him to let him explain those things instead of Tom Reynolds, you can explore the coaching mind. Oh, 100%. You know, you're standing at third base. Are you sending him in this spot? You know, are you sending him no matter what here? What what are you looking at in the game? And those guys are great, whether it's Simone Denis or Kendall Linicu who you had on already on the podcast. She's so good at talking about the goaltending side of things that you know, a lot of times I'll try to ask her, what is he seeing there? What is he looking at when they're coming down three on two? Where's your mind going here? As how do I handle this? And I think uh, you know, that's a great way to develop that chemistry. And I'm kind of lucky that I have between the two sports some great analysts, guys that understand the role of the analyst, where I'm gonna call the play and then boom, they're up. And and that's you know, I think that's the best way uh a broadcaster, play by play, and an analyst can work. Is if the play-by-play guy, he calls the play, boom, analyst gives you everything else to s to solidify it.
SPEAKER_03And when you're really uh working uh with a solid chemistry, there's no really cues, it just naturally happens.
SPEAKER_00It just naturally happens. Yep, you're right. I may ask a question. Sometimes I may not have to. Right. I might say, okay, that pitch is outside, it runs at 3-2. Ron might take over right then and go, here's where I'm going. I'm going as a pitcher. This is what I've set him up with. I I missed outside there with that fastball, but I know I can get him to swing and miss if I go down and in, but I got to hit the zone so that it's an it's a strikeout no matter what, and I want to force him to swing. Then you start getting into that because then they read off of you as the play-by-play guy of when to jump in. And you know, and there's certain times the game can dictate that. There's certain times where the game is great where it just automatically allows the analyst to come in. But if you're not having a great game, if there's not a lot happening, and you know, whereas an analyst might struggle to find what to bring in, that's where the play-by-play guy's got to be like, okay, take me through a spot here, give me a reason here of what this why this is important and or what they need to do in this situation.
SPEAKER_03Let's take a just a brief uh side trip away from the broadcast because I find interesting, Matt, that you uh for 12 years you were a manager of team operations. You're no longer doing that, but it it seems like a very interesting behind the scenes job, but a really important. So you give us an idea what that was all about?
SPEAKER_00It is an extremely important job, actually. Uh uh, you know, when you're talking about the majority of it is the travel part, is getting the teams A to B, getting them to the next venue, getting them to the next city, uh, bringing them back. That's that's you know, the basic hard. It's the basic, but it is hard because it's not it's not just something you do. I can control everything I do in the booth. I I, you know, for the most part, outside of the equipment connecting. That's everything else is me. Uh, but when you're doing the travel and you're doing the team operations, which, you know, is there I mean, there's other things wrapped into that, and uh, but for the most part, it's travel is the main part of that. You're relying on other people, you're relying on bus drivers, you're relying on airlines, you're relying on hotels to have everything lined up properly for when you A arrive or you're using them. And you know, sometimes those things are perfect and sometimes they're not, and it can be it's extremely stressful. And you know, I know Chelsea, who we have here, does a great job managing both of them now. It it yeah, I there were some times where I didn't sleep so great, knowing that we had a big trip coming up, and even though I had crossed every T and dotted every I, you just never know.
SPEAKER_03You probably looked at the weather a lot, especially in the winter.
SPEAKER_00The weather in the winter, yeah. You would think I wouldn't look at it as much in the winter. You'd think I'd look at it a lot in the summer because of all the the storms that could affect games. But yes, in the winter you're looking at it heavily. Oh my god, there's a snowstorm coming. We're supposed to bust to indie. This is gonna be, you know, tricky. What are we gonna do? And you're always gonna be thinking about that.
SPEAKER_03What's what's one of the more tricky or um um monkey wrenches that came in your logistics that you're gonna do?
SPEAKER_00You want to know you yeah, you want to know one where it kind of exploded, right? You want to know one that's everything couldn't be perfect, man. Right, exactly. Um I I'll give you one, I'll give you one on the baseball side that comes to mind. It was a couple years ago we played in Worcester Mass, and then we were gonna play on Monday, Labor Day at Fifth Third Field. So I go through and I'm just trying to find any way I can get the team home without flying them home the next morning. You can't really bus it and then play. It's it's 12 to 13 hours by bus. So even if they're on the road by good, they're on the road by 5.30, you're not back now until 6, 7 a.m. the next morning, and you got to play in the afternoon. That just doesn't work. Even with sleeper buses, it's just not, it just doesn't work. So I'm looking around, I'm constantly searching. Finally, I find a flight on on a United flight that was gonna get the team home at night. They could get out of, I want to say it was Providence, they go Providence to DC. So now you got a connection.
SPEAKER_03It doesn't sound good, right now.
SPEAKER_00Again with a team, you don't want to do connections, you don't, but Providence to DC and then to uh to Detroit. And I was like, okay, well, this works. It gets them home at, you know, they land at like midnight, and then you know, they can play the next day. So I get it all set up with United. I get my group and all of that. I have all that done. I have the extra seats taken care of for the coaching staff. And all that. I got everything lined up. And with United, you've got a little more of a grace period of when you have to put your names in. So I'm using that grace period because baseball, a lot of names change. We get to a couple weeks out, I contact United to do, to put my to put my names in to get the group done. And they reply back to me, we don't have a group for you for this flight. And I'm saying, well, no, I have all the stuff here. I have it all. And they go back, they come back with, well, someone obviously never put it in on our end. And I'm like, okay, well, what can we do? Well, the most I can get out is I think it was 26 or something. Well, we're traveling 38 to 40. So I go searching around. I'm like, I got to find a way to get these other the other guys home. So what we ended up doing, our manager at the time, Tim Fedorovich, I talked to him about it. And I he goes, you know what we can do if you find another flight. So I find another flight that goes through Hartford and it gets in, you know, it kind of does the same thing. It's, but it's just, it's a different, it's a different flight. They just got to bus different. So you had a so I had one bus going down to Providence, one bus going the other way to Hartford. And so what we ended up doing was he gave me a list of the guys that were going to pitch that Sunday or Saturday, Sunday, that probably weren't going to throw Monday. So all the position players go with the coaching staff down to down to Providence. They're flying out. Uh no problems with them. Everything went smooth there. It's the group that went over to Hartford that had a problem. They canceled the flight from Hartford uh to Detroit. And so they end up canceling it. So now I'm scrambling to try to find hotels, get these guys flights. I can't get them out of there the next morning. I got to get them out the next morning. So they so I get them booked on the 6 a.m. flight out. I'm just telling them, like, sorry guys, gotta do it. Get them a hotel, do all of that stuff. They fly in. We're figuring those guys aren't throwing anyway. Well, it ended up the way the game went. We had to use two of those guys in that game, and I'm laughing. And I still remember my conversation with Tim after the game. I go down and I talk to him, I go, you know, the two pitchers you threw in the game that flew in this morning pitch better than everybody else. And he goes, I know. We were laughing. It was a tough game. It didn't work out for the Hens, but I mean it's just one of those logistical things that you're not, you know, you're not prepared for or uh not expecting to have to deal with. And even though you had everything lined up, you can't avoid what might happen in a flight cancellation that just upsets the Apple cart.
SPEAKER_03It seems like those 12 years, Matt, would give you a different perspective on the lives of the players and coaches. What is what is something that fans don't fully realize about um what minor league professional hockey and baseball players go through?
SPEAKER_00You know, I think I don't think they realize how how difficult sometimes the travel and the extracurriculars can be, especially at the minor league level. And it's not we travel very well. I mean, whether it's sleeper buses or flights, you know, you're it's it's not it's not awful. It's not the the old movie major league where you're getting on a bus that is uh rumbling and rickling. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean you're you're still traveling, but it's still it's still taxing. And I don't think I don't think people realize how taxing that could be. Let's let's take hockey for an example. You may have it, it it doesn't happen all the time, but sometimes you have a four and five, four games in five days. They might be in four different cities, which means you might play a game, you're on the bus for two, three, four hours to go to the next city. You're playing a game either the next day or you're coming back here, and then you're going somewhere else. And then by the time you hit the end of that, that's a lot on a player, right? I don't care how great the shape there are, I don't care, you know, all of those things, it's still, no matter where you're at, it can still be taxing on you because I know it's taxing on me as a broadcaster to do that much travel in and out, uh, let alone uh, you know, having to do it. I think that's part of why Major League Baseball and the minor leagues went to the six-game series, because it cuts out some of that extra travel that uh players were going through and dealing with. And, you know, because it does, it gets taxing. You get to the major league level, yeah, everything's private jets. You know, you're you you bust 10 minutes over to an airport, boom, you're an hour, you're in the next city, you bust to a hotel, you're done. Uh, you know, it's a little bit easier on the body than it is uh what what a lot of the minor league guys go through. And I don't think fans realize that sometimes when a player has a bad game that you don't know what they're dealing with. They could just be sore just from you know, riding a bus the day before, or uh, you know, uh maybe they had uh maybe they didn't have the most comfortable seat on a flight, or you know, and you just you know, sometimes you're just stiff. It just happens, you know. You're uh you're still a body, and it bodies aren't, you know, we're not machines. So, you know, I think I don't think people realize that it goes into it too.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Returning back to your uh uh broadcasting role, a couple more questions, Matt. What's a um interview with a coach or a player that's really memorable for you?
SPEAKER_00Ooh, man, memorable interview with a coach or a player. Um gosh, you know what? I've done that's a great question because I've done so many interviews uh over my time, just trying to think back. Uh, you know, I know I've had a lot of really good ones uh, you know, over the time that I'm trying to think of one that would even stand out more so than the others. I know when Derek Lalone came back after uh coaching uh so long and him jumping into the booth. And uh we had it, we had a great conversation then, uh, you know, and some of the guys that have uh come in from uh whether it's been on the baseball side or the hockey side that have come back uh you know from teammates or uh you know, those are usually my favorite ones when you haven't seen a player in years and they come in uh and you do an interview with them. Uh, you know, and being part of the Toledo Hockey Hall of Fame, you know, when I this year when I got to drive up to uh Shane Birchback's home and tell him, you know, is uh a guy that I got to know very well when he played, and to be able to tell him he was going in the Toledo Hockey Hall of Fame, well, that was a lot of fun. It was a it was a great day. It was a long trip to go up to Grand Rapids to tell him that, but it was a lot of fun.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Have you spent a lot of time um calling games and around athletes and coaches, uh, Matt? Uh so obviously sports is a big part of your life. What life lessons um do you draw upon sports that I guess resonate most with you?
SPEAKER_00Uh to me, it's teamwork first off. I think uh and I know sometimes I'm in a solo world, but it's still a it's still a team. You're still part of a team, whether it's when we're whether you're with your analysts for for home games or you're working with the promos uh promo staff to promote something or the marketing staff to uh you know for whatever they need. Uh, you know, it we're still all of a team. You're still part of a team no matter what. A teamwork still matters, whether you're on the field or you're off the field, and in my case, off the field, but it's still a team because we're still part of all of this. Uh you know, whether uh, you know, when someone listens or watches a game, I want them to know that it's a great time to come to a game. And that's part of the infomercial part. So I need to have that part of it has to be good too, uh, to go along with what the ticket reps do, to go along with what the promo team does, the marketing team, and all of that that, you know, the uh the the crew that make sure the the the ballpark's clean or the you know everything's all part of a team. And that's the great thing about sports is it's it's team driven, even in baseball where you're looking at individual numbers, it's still the individual numbers make up a team. And I I think that's one of the great things about sports.
SPEAKER_03You've been at uh some really big moments of sports here in Toledo. If you I guess put aside the the home runs, the the goals, the thrilling victories, the devastating losses. Is there a human spirit story that really captures why you enjoy what you do?
SPEAKER_00I think it's the the way that I have seen in my time, the way I've seen the growth of the sports in general and the fan, and the way uh, you know, we talked about the walleye in those first few years, and then now building up to where every game's a sellout. Well, you know, watching the evolution of the fan for hockey and and watching the resiliency for baseball and the comeback from uh the pandemic when we were doing games under you only had only could allow a certain amount of fans into the ballpark, and then building back up to that to you know, where we had a couple of uh weeks ago where we had Justin Verlander here, we got 10,500 at fifth third field. It it's the evolution of the fan. And, you know, I think that's to me the human interest side of it is just watching them develop and taking in new players every year and new uh surroundings and and just that that evolution is kind of fun for me. I I love when we have the ballpark full. I love when we have the arena full because it just and especially for new people that come in to those atmospheres, and you hear it uh from people in Detroit or Cleveland or that might come in to watch a minor league game, and they're like, wow, this is unbelievable here. What a great sports town. And and that's what I love the most. That's why I think the human interest side of it is fantastic to watch the fans and interact with them because I I'm always out there. I I walk the arena before I do the broadcast. I'll I'll end up talking to a handful of people every night.
SPEAKER_03Do you like that interaction?
SPEAKER_00I love the interaction. I love when I actually love when a fan comes, hey Matt, are we gonna win tonight? Well, I mean, I don't really know, right? But I I I can tell you. You're one of them. Yeah, you're cheering this like exactly, and that's the beauty of sports. We don't know what's gonna happen on any given night at at the ballpark or at the arena or whatever sport we're watching. That's why we're all into sports, and we uh as fans love sports because you don't know when you're gonna see that great run or when you're gonna see a team win a title. It's just that's what we're all into it for. And I think you love that rush as a fan, and and I love it too. I'm I'm out, I walk around in the ballpark. People ask me about the Tigers all the time, and you know, hey, when are we gonna see Ben Malgiri up at the big leagues? Oh, hey, by the way, he's there now. Uh, he got a chance to go up there. So it's just those are the things that I think you enjoy the most. And I love talking with the fans. I enjoy it a lot, actually.
SPEAKER_03Similar but a little bit different. If you look at your broadcast career um and what you're doing right now, what are you most grateful for?
SPEAKER_00Uh, the fact that I I have an organization that I can work with that's fantastic and has supported me continuing to do the broadcast. There's not a lot that would say, okay, Matt, you're doing hockey full time. You really can't do baseball full-time. But this organization said, Yes, you can do both. You want to take them on, take them on and do them and give, and here you go. And I get the opportunity to do that all the time. I, you know, every time I put the headset on, I I think this is fantastic that I get to do this. I do a game every day if I could. I really would. I really would. Uh honestly. I I I love it that much. And I love talking uh about the games and describing them and and doing I love all the prep work and reading the numbers and all the things that some people would find weird. I enjoy it and I love doing it.
unknownThat's great.
SPEAKER_03You're a family man, so why don't we finish with your family? Tell us about your loved ones.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I have my wife Caitlin. Uh, you know, we're coming up on our uh 12th anniversary coming up later in the year. Uh, and then we have the two young kids at home, uh, four-year-old Kenlin and uh soon-to be one-year-old Jaley, who was born last summer. So uh, you know, we got the young kids at home, and you know, it's kind of a a fun, but uh, you know, wild time uh right now at the Melzac house.
SPEAKER_03Do they join in the booth at all? Like pregame?
SPEAKER_00I have uh, yes, especially if I do a game remotely at home, then I know I'm gonna have two little visitors that are gonna be in there uh with me. Uh but the great thing is now I do my notes sometimes, and Kenlin likes to come in and do her own notes. So I give her a sheet and she's in there drawing and doing her own thing.
SPEAKER_03And she'll be taping things to the wall.
SPEAKER_00You know, that that's probably coming. But uh, you know, getting to do uh, you know, being a family man now and and and having the kids is awesome. And I I love that. Uh, you know, we like to go skating on the trail uh you know, here because we got the great uh the UT trail, we'll go on, and uh my wife and I will skate, and then we have a car that we push one of them in and the stroller for the other, and uh, you know, we go and do that and we hit all the parks around here because this town is uh flush with great, great parks. And we just did the Glass City uh Metro Park uh a little while ago, and you know, we're just kind of getting you know, even more. We're trying to check mark them all this summer to hit every park and kind of walk around and you know see what uh all Toledo has to offer. We hit the zoo a lot, they love that, and uh especially the older one, she loves going to the zoo because we got to see the giraffes and that's that's speed the giraffes every time we go through there. Uh and then yeah, we we just we we really try to get out as much as we can.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow, that's great. And Matt, this whole conversation has been really wonderful. Thank you for being so open and canon, giving us a nice behind-the-scenes look of what your world's like from the broadcast booth and just your really deep knowledge about the hens and the walleye. And thanks for being such an Uber professional. It's uh it's it's great watching and listening to games and keep painting a picture for us.
SPEAKER_00I'll I'll do that, Brad. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03And come back and see us again. How about that?
SPEAKER_00We'll do. We'll do it.
SPEAKER_01And when you look at the picture.